Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle

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Men's 400 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Venue Beijing National Aquatics Center
DateAugust 9, 2008 (heats)
August 10, 2008 (final)
Competitors37 from 27 nations
Winning time3:41.86
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Park Tae-Hwan Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea
Silver medal icon.svg Zhang Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Bronze medal icon.svg Larsen Jensen Flag of the United States.svg  United States
  2004
2012  

The men's 400 metre freestyle event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 9–10 August at the Beijing National Aquatics Center in Beijing, China. [1]

Reigning world champion Park Tae-Hwan made an Olympic milestone to become South Korea's first ever gold medalist in swimming. He powered past the field to an unexpected triumph in an Asian record of 3:41.86. [2] [3] [4] Coming from sixth place in the final lap, China's Zhang Lin delighted the home crowd with a silver-medal effort in 3:42.44. Meanwhile, U.S. swimmer Larsen Jensen set a new American record of 3:42.78 to take the bronze. [5]

American Peter Vanderkaay delivered a strong swim with a fourth-place effort in 3:43.11, just 0.35 of a second ahead of Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli, who established a new African record of 3:43.45. Leading the field in the first 100 metres, Australia's Grant Hackett, the silver medalist in the event from Athens, could not keep the pace over the final laps, and settled only for sixth place with a time of 3:43.84. Russian duo Yuri Prilukov (3:43.97) and Nikita Lobintsev (3:48.29) rounded out the final. [2] [3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World recordFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Ian Thorpe  (AUS)3:40.08 Manchester, United Kingdom 30 July 2002 [6]
Olympic recordFlag of Australia.svg  Ian Thorpe  (AUS)3:40.59 Sydney, Australia 16 September 2000-

Results

Heats

RankHeatLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
144 Larsen Jensen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:43.10Q, AM
235 Zhang Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:43.32Q, AS
334 Park Tae-Hwan Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 3:43.35Q
446 Nikita Lobintsev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3:43.45Q, NR
554 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:44.03Q
655 Peter Vanderkaay Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:44.22Q
745 Oussama Mellouli Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 3:44.54Q
853 Yuri Prilukov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3:44.82Q
952 Ryan Cochrane Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 3:44.85 NR
1032 Takeshi Matsuda Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 3:44.99 NR
1133 Federico Colbertaldo Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:45.28
1248 Mads Glæsner Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 3:45.38 NR
1343 Massimiliano Rosolino Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 3:45.57
1431 Nicolas Rostoucher Flag of France.svg  France 3:47.15
1557 David Carry Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:47.17 NR
1651 Sergey Fesenko Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 3:47.75 NR
1758 Dragoș Coman Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 3:47.79
1837 Paul Biedermann Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 3:48.03
1956 Przemysław Stańczyk Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 3:48.11
2025 David Brandl Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 3:48.63
2138 Dean Milwain Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 3:48.77
2247 Paweł Korzeniowski Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 3:48.78
2324 Sébastien Rouault Flag of France.svg  France 3:48.84
2423 Spyridon Gianniotis Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 3:49.34
2536 Craig Stevens Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:50.22
2615 Gard Kvale Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 3:50.47 NR
2727 Dominik Meichtry Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 3:50.55
2842 Sun Yang Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:50.90
2941 Christian Kubusch Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 3:52.73
3026 Jean Basson Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 3:52.90
3114 Daniele Tirabassi Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 3:53.26
3228 Balázs Gercsák Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 3:54.14
3313 Květoslav Svoboda Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 3:56.54
3422 Jon Raahauge Rud Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 3:57.41
3516 Juan Martín Pereyra Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 3:59.35
3612 Oleg Rabota Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 4:02.16
21 Luka Turk Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia DNS

Final

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg3 Park Tae-Hwan Flag of South Korea (1997-2011).svg  South Korea 3:41.86 AS
Silver medal icon.svg5 Zhang Lin Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 3:42.44 NR
Bronze medal icon.svg4 Larsen Jensen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:42.78 AM
47 Peter Vanderkaay Flag of the United States.svg  United States 3:43.11
51 Oussama Mellouli Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 3:43.45 AF
62 Grant Hackett Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 3:43.84
78 Yuri Prilukov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3:43.97
86 Nikita Lobintsev Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 3:48.29

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References

  1. "Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 Lohn, John (10 August 2008). "Olympics, Swimming: Tae Hwan Park Captures Gold Medal in Men's 400 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Park secures 400m freestyle gold". BBC Sport. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  4. "S. Korean Park wins men's 400m freestyle Olympic gold". Xinhua . China Daily. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  5. "Park Tae-hwan wins swim event". News24. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  6. "Double joy for Thorpe". BBC Sport. 30 July 2002. Retrieved 6 August 2008.